How Birds Smell Their Way Home Across the Ocean
Chapter 1

From dinosaurs to the dawn of flight

Chapter 2

The physics and poetry of flight

Chapter 3

Global navigation without a map

Chapter 4

Feathered geniuses and their languages

Chapter 5

The world's most creative homebuilders

YOUR GOAL

Master of The extraordinary lives of our feathered neighbors

Ch 3 · Global navigation without a map
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007skaty Migratory birds visualize the magnetic field of the Earth

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007skaty Avian Magnetic Navigation

I don't need a map when I take to the sky, I see magnetic lines right inside my eye.

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To navigate the featureless, we must learn to read the invisible guides around us.

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007skaty The non-stop migration of the bar-tailed godwit.

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The smell of home across the ocean

007skaty Seabirds follow chemical corridors of dimethyl sulfide emitted by marine plankton to locate feeding grounds and nesting islands.

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Seeing the earth's magnetic fields

007skaty Glowing lines of magnetic force arch across the night sky from a bird's perspective.

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Feathered Path Finder
BETA

007skaty Trace flight paths through wind currents to learn how migratory birds navigate the globe.

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Fun Fact

Marathon flight: The bar-tailed godwit flies for eleven days straight without stopping to eat, drink, or sleep.

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Gossip

Which super navigation sense is best?

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Quiz

Which bird species is famous for migrating from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back every year?

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007skaty Birds navigate using the ancient star maps in the night sky.

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Quiz

What class of light-sensitive proteins in bird retinas is believed to help them see magnetic fields?

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Quiz

What physical preparation do bar-tailed godwits undergo before starting their massive migration?

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Quiz

How do seabirds like petrels navigate across thousands of miles of featureless ocean?

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Quiz

What chemical compound, released by marine plankton, do petrels smell to locate ocean feeding grounds?

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Quiz

How many days did the bar-tailed godwit B6 fly continuously without food or water in 2022?

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Quiz

Which bird holds the record for the longest recorded non-stop migratory flight?

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Quiz

How do indigo buntings learn which direction is north for their night migrations?

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